Computer lock up

[Louie70Dart]

I have this home built.
ASUS P5ND mother board
6 gig RAM Quad Core processor
500 gig HDD
Windows XP sp3
I know old PC, but worked ok until about a year ago when it would start locking up after several hours. By several I mean four or more. I tried a fresh upload of the OS, no good. Tried new HDD, no good. Finally said the hell with it and got a new one, PC that is. I had this old one sitting around literally gathering dust so I took it to the garage and blew all the crud out. I thought I would try the heat sink for the processor and see if that made any difference. See, it don't make any noise, and overall is a fairly decent setup. Well, I was bored today and did the reseat of the heat sink. Machine is powered up and I'm using it right now. New HDD with very little on it but the necessities to make it work. Why you ask? Cause I'm a tinkerer and a nerd/geek, who also happens to love his Dodge Dart. Has anyone here ever had a similar problem and what did you do if anything to correct it? Thanks. Let the tinkerers speak! LOL

 

[Joeychgo]

Congrats on finding the issue. Ive run across a lot of these kind of issues.

 

[Louie70Dart]

Another problem, other than XP is I have to d/l 41 updates....yes you heard right. 41 updates. LOL If this works out I'll see if Windows 7 will work with this processor, I just may take the plunge and buy it. One can never have too much storage. With the other HDD I didn't use, I could have 1 terabyte of storage.

 

[RedFish]

I retired my similar homemade pc a couple years ago. Huge case with bunch of fans and stuff. I spent a small fortune building that thing. Bare MSI mobo alone was 215.00 It sounded like a vacuum cleaner running though. Don't mess it at all.
They all ( laptops incl' ) get what looks like a piece of carpet between processor heat sink and fan. Keeping them clean/cool vastly extends their life span.
For many the only thing you need is the "how to" which in most cases can be found on YouTube.
For others you'll need heat sink compound. I get that in tiny single dose packages for .10 each at the local pc repair shop.

 

[cudajim]

I find I have to blow out my computer at least once a year to keep it happy. The fans actually start getting louder which tells me they're dragging when dust builds up on them.

I also had a problem after loading Office 2010. The system would lockup every time I loaded Word and used it for some time. The fix was to reload Office 2010 and all was well after that.

 

[67Dart273]

Put Linux on the thing

http://www.linuxmint.com/

 

[TrailBeast]

I find I have to blow out my computer at least once a year to keep it happy. The fans actually start getting louder which tells me they're dragging when dust builds up on them.

I also had a problem after loading Office 2010. The system would lockup every time I loaded Word and used it for some time. The fix was to reload Office 2010 and all was well after that.

The fans get louder because the dust keeps it from cooling and the heat sensing fans try to compensate by turning faster. (see it all the time, especially with cat owners)

When I read the first sentence I thought "processor overheat" as it is the very first thing that you look for when computers shut down for no apparent reason.

 

[65LoveAffair]

I have an old (6 or 7) year old laptop that originally came with XP. I bought it off the original owner five years ago for $75 when he tried to install Win 7 on it and forgot to download the necessary drivers first and it crashed. Instead of doing it right, he went and bought a brand new laptop. His loss, my gain. It was a decent rig, but now the CPU keeps overheating and the thing shuts off. I've pulled the heatsink off a couple of times and laid new thermal compound, but it doesn't fix anything. I've also pull the fan out and blown it clean with some canned air. (Yes, I use the kind specifically for electronics.) I think my problem lies internally in the CPU chip itself. No matter what I do, it still overheats and shuts the computer down. One of these days I'll see about picking up a new processor for it and see if that fixes the issue. For now, it sits in the closet on a shelf gathering even more dust.

 

[Bad Sport]

I have an old (6 or 7) year old laptop that originally came with XP. I bought it off the original owner five years ago for $75 when he tried to install Win 7 on it and forgot to download the necessary drivers first and it crashed. Instead of doing it right, he went and bought a brand new laptop. His loss, my gain. It was a decent rig, but now the CPU keeps overheating and the thing shuts off. I've pulled the heatsink off a couple of times and laid new thermal compound, but it doesn't fix anything. I've also pull the fan out and blown it clean with some canned air. (Yes, I use the kind specifically for electronics.) I think my problem lies internally in the CPU chip itself. No matter what I do, it still overheats and shuts the computer down. One of these days I'll see about picking up a new processor for it and see if that fixes the issue. For now, it sits in the closet on a shelf gathering even more dust.

I had two laptops here doing exactly the same thing.

I pulled the memory card and took a pencil eraser and cleaned up the contacts, blew the fan out with the compressed air and, voila, no more issues with either one.

Don't touch the contacts on the card with your fingers (oil from your skin can mess it up) gently clean up the contacts on both sides and blow it off.

 

[Louie70Dart]

Man, you gotta love tinkerers. Why throw something out when with a little time and LITTLE money all is good again. I must of gotten lucky with the PC cause it's still going the next day, no lock up. As far as a different OS like Linux. Might be good for anti virus, I mean who is writing virus for that?. No, I'll stick with Windows, I'll take the bad with the good. I don't feel I have the time to invest in learning the quirks and fixes for a different OS. Just me I guess. I want something the same, like having my coffee the same way every morning. Creature of habit, oh well, could be worse. Glad some were able to get the stuff working again, and let me know here about the processor if you go that route. I'm curious, and hope to be until the day I day!

 

[Bad Sport]

Man, you gotta love tinkerers. Why throw something out when with a little time and LITTLE money all is good again.

Yup! What really irritates me is the fact my wife took her laptop in to be looked at and the guy told her it was going to need a new board, this and that.

He offered her 80 bucks for the laptop, luckily she refused it.

When I pulled the card and cleaned it up and it worked she was a little hot to say the least.

 

[67Dart273]

Man, you gotta love tinkerers. Why throw something out when with a little time and LITTLE money all is good again. I must of gotten lucky with the PC cause it's still going the next day, no lock up. As far as a different OS like Linux. Might be good for anti virus, I mean who is writing virus for that?. No, I'll stick with Windows, I'll take the bad with the good. I don't feel I have the time to invest in learning the quirks and fixes for a different OS. Just me I guess. I want something the same, like having my coffee the same way every morning. Creature of habit, oh well, could be worse. Glad some were able to get the stuff working again, and let me know here about the processor if you go that route. I'm curious, and hope to be until the day I day!

The thing about Linux is, you only have to "learn" (search for) the fixes ONCE. Once you get it installed and running, you can pretty much leave it alone.

I recently reinstalled everything on this thing..........Asus I5 core laptop-----to upgrade from Mint 13 to Mint 17. Other than occasionally adding something I wanted, I hadn't done a THING to the Linux install

 

[65LoveAffair]

I had two laptops here doing exactly the same thing.

I pulled the memory card and took a pencil eraser and cleaned up the contacts, blew the fan out with the compressed air and, voila, no more issues with either one.

Don't touch the contacts on the card with your fingers (oil from your skin can mess it up) gently clean up the contacts on both sides and blow it off.

That is a thought. I might try that this weekend if I get a chance. With my son in school again, we've got erasers falling out of our ears! I still might go the processor route though. With that laptop I can usually leave it running and sitting on the desktop for a couple of days before it finally shuts down. If I try to stream a video, however, I get maybe five or ten minutes and then it's gone. It'll power right back up, so I know it's not dead, but as hot as it gets I usually let it sit for a while before I turn it back on. It's not urgent that I get it fixed since I replaced it earlier this year. I found a really good deal on a year old Toshiba laptop at a pawn shop. The keyboard was missing the 'Q' key, so they had it marked down cheap. One 'Q' key bought online later, and the thing runs like a champ! I just wish the speakers weren't so crappy! Eh, you get what you pay for. I can always get some decent headphones.

Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes with the old laptop and if I can get it figured out. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[70aarcuda]

Put Linux on the thing

http://www.linuxmint.com/

If you like to tinker....try Linux mint 17

 

[Joeychgo]

My primary computer, which I built.

I'll be building a new one in a few months.

 

[Joeychgo]

The fans get louder because the dust keeps it from cooling and the heat sensing fans try to compensate by turning faster. (see it all the time, especially with cat owners)

When I read the first sentence I thought "processor overheat" as it is the very first thing that you look for when computers shut down for no apparent reason.

Same here.

 

[TrailBeast]

That is a thought. I might try that this weekend if I get a chance. With my son in school again, we've got erasers falling out of our ears! I still might go the processor route though. With that laptop I can usually leave it running and sitting on the desktop for a couple of days before it finally shuts down. If I try to stream a video, however, I get maybe five or ten minutes and then it's gone. It'll power right back up, so I know it's not dead, but as hot as it gets I usually let it sit for a while before I turn it back on. It's not urgent that I get it fixed since I replaced it earlier this year. I found a really good deal on a year old Toshiba laptop at a pawn shop. The keyboard was missing the 'Q' key, so they had it marked down cheap. One 'Q' key bought online later, and the thing runs like a champ! I just wish the speakers weren't so crappy! Eh, you get what you pay for. I can always get some decent headphones.

Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes with the old laptop and if I can get it figured out. Thanks for the suggestion!

Just so you know.
A processor that has overheated and shut down usually shuts down sooner and sooner the more times it overheats.
Point is, that even though the heat problem may be fixed the processor could still shut down.
You may need to swap it out like you mentioned.

One other thing to know is that Badsport mentioned cleaning the RAM contacts.
Not only can it help to clean them, but as things warm up and cool down they move from thermal expansion and contraction which can cause them to loose contact, so sometimes just removing and reseating the RAM can solve problems like that.

 

[Bad Sport]

One other thing to know is that Badsport mentioned cleaning the RAM contacts. Not only can it help to clean them, but as things warm up and cool down they move from thermal expansion and contraction which can cause them to loose contact, so sometimes just removing and reseating the RAM can solve problems like that.

Over heating was the original problem in mine, I think, lol. I pulled the RAM and the contacts were actually a dull goldish brown color (I suspect from the excessive heat) after cleaning those contacts with the eraser, the computer quite shutting down, and still hasn't.

The other one would power up, but would not show any display. Same thing, the RAM contacts had the same goldish brown color, cleaned them up and the display came right up.

The thing that troubled me the most about the whole thing was the fact the computer repair dude told my wife it probably wasn't repairable and offering her 80 bucks for the laptop.

So far so good on both.

 

[Joeychgo]

Actually, I consider the best way for cleaning such contacts is to use isopropyl alcohol and a q-tip.

 

[Bad Sport]

Actually, I consider the best way for cleaning such contacts is to use isopropyl alcohol and a q-tip.

Didn't know that, I'll tuck that in the memory banks. Would that shine them back to the bright gold like they are now?

 

[Joeychgo]

Im not sure about the shine, never paid attention. But, for example, that's how I clean the thermal paste off of the processor when I'm changing cooling fans/blocks

 

[TrailBeast]

Didn't know that, I'll tuck that in the memory banks. Would that shine them back to the bright gold like they are now?

Nope.
The brownish gold color is atmospheric corrosion, and the eraser is fine for that.
Alcohol won't remove the surface corrosion.

 

[65LoveAffair]

One other thing to know is that Badsport mentioned cleaning the RAM contacts. Not only can it help to clean them, but as things warm up and cool down they move from thermal expansion and contraction which can cause them to loose contact, so sometimes just removing and reseating the RAM can solve problems like that.

Ya gotta love chip creep. In the Navy, we usually fixed this by opening a box and hitting the cards with a rubber mallet to get them back into place. Not exactly what you would call "fine tuning" but it worked 9/10 times!